#East maui Water

The Kula Community Association invites community members to attend its General Meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026, featuring timely updates on invasive species, water quality, watershed restoration, and East Maui water management. The meeting is open to the public and will be held in the evening, beginning with food and informal conversation.

Update: The scheduled water service outage at the junction of St. Peter’s Church Road and Hāna Highway (near Kailani’s Gift Shop) on Jan. 13 has been postponed and will be rescheduled at a later date. 

After several hours of receiving public comments, the Board of Land and Natural Resources voted Friday, Nov. 14, to defer for six months its decision-making on a DLNR Land Division recommendation to hold a contested case hearing over the proposed disposition of a water license by public auction, or by a set aside via a governor’s executive order to the County of Maui, for the diversion of public surface water from the Koʻolau Forest Reserve.

Residents emphasized key East Maui water priorities – such as the acquisition of the East Maui water system, infrastructure upgrades, the creation of a new East Maui base yard and watershed health initiatives – during three County of Maui East Maui Water Authority community workshops.

With a Stage 3 water shortage in effect for Upcountry areas, the County of Maui Department of Water Supply is providing additional information.

The Hawai‘i Supreme Court on Thursday confirmed that the Board of Land and Natural Resources violated water advocates’ constitutional rights when it permitted Alexander & Baldwin, Inc. to divert fresh water from East Maui streams as part of a renewal of a Revocable Permit.

The EMI system, which was used to divert water from East Maui streams to the sugar plantation for nearly 150 years, is one of the last physical — and one of the most controversial — reminders of the sugar plantation and A&B’s outsize influence on Maui.

Changing rainfall, persistent drought and invasive species are taking a toll on the watershed and leaving East Maui farmers with less water than expected after the restoration of streams.

The County’s newly established East Maui Water Authority (EMWA) and its regional advisory board, ʻAha Wai o Maui Hikina, invite community members to a series of free public events focused on watershed and water resource planning.

Haʻikū Community Association will host its second public meeting of 2025 on Wednesday, May 14, from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at Haʻikū Community Center, on Hāna Highway.

“We are seeing record-low flows in terms of the entire period of record on Kawaikōī, that’s about 109 years. In some of the East Maui streams, 105 years. But we’ve not seen low flows like this across the state to this extent ever before,” said Dr. Aryon Strauch, CWRM’s lead hydrologist.

The Board of Land and Natural Resources is expected to take action Friday on a staff recommendation to issue a revocable permit to Alexander & Baldwin and subsidiary East Maui Irrigation Co. for the use of surface stream water.

Maui Mayor Richard T. Bissen, Jr. wrote a letter to Board of Land and Natural Resources Chair Dawn Chang, urging her to hold off on holding a contested case hearing on the disposition of an East Maui Water License, scheduled for Friday, Nov. 8. Bissen said talks have already begun between the parties and he wants both sides to have the full opportunity to resolve the issue amicably.

Gina Young was sworn in Wednesday as the first director of the East Maui Regional Water Authority. The Maui County Council voted Oct. 25 to approve her appointment to the position, following her unanimous selection by the East Maui Regional Community Board or ʻAha Wai o Maui Hikina Regional Community Board.

The Hawaiʻi Board of Land and Natural Resources, as represented by the Department of the Attorney General, prevailed on appeal in a case regarding the continuation of revocable permits for the diversion of water from streams in East Maui to Central and Upcountry Maui.

Council Member Shane M. Sinenci announced today that the East Maui Regional Community Board is accepting applications through April 9 for the first East Maui Water Authority director.

East Maui Council member Sinenci said the passage of this charter amendment returns the stewardship of the East Maui watersheds toward local residents of East Maui, “residents who have often sacrificed their lives maintaining this system, and who had to idly watch as their life suffered from a lack of water.”

The state’s Environmental Court on Friday reduced the amount of water that can be taken from East Maui streams under revocable permits held by Alexander and Baldwin and East Maui Irrigation. 

The Water Authority, Social Services and Parks Committee, chaired by Sinenci, recruited and vetted East Maui Regional Community Board applicants following approval of a charter amendment by 64% of the voters at the Nov. 8 election. The board members will appoint the director and approve a long-range watershed-management plan and other related programs.

The East Maui Regional Community Board will appoint the director and set policies for the new East Maui Community Water Authority, which is responsible for a long-range watershed-management plan.